Statement der US-Winemaker-Ikone Paul Draper

Paul Draper prägte Ridge Vineyards 55 Jahre lang und machte die Winery zu dem, was sie heute ist. Dabei wuchs Draper weit weg vom Weinbau in der Nähe von Chicago auf und studierte später an der renommierten Stanford University Philosophie. Bei Aufenthalten in Frankreich, Italien und Chile wurde er mit dem Weinvirus infiziert und begann, Wein zu machen. Da er laut eigenen Angaben wenig von Chemie und Physik verstand, besann er sich auf die ursprüngliche, vorindustrielle Art der Weinproduktion. 1969 kam er mit diesen Ideen zu Ridge. Zu Drapers sogenanntem pre-industrial Winemaking steht Ridge Vineyards noch immer. In den folgenden Zeilen ruft der heute 87-jährige Draper die jahrzehntelange Verbindung mit unserer Weinhandlung Martel in Erinnerung:

«Wolfram Martel (Red: Der Onkel des heutigen Geschäftsführers Jan Martel) came to visit Monte Bello early in his travels to California. We had established an excellent and growing market for our wines in England but were selling only very small quantities on the continent to France, Germany and the german-speaking market. As my aim was to see our wines known as widely as possible, to export to Switzerland was an easy decision.

Our special relationship with both Martel and Switzerland developed with the quality of the marketing tours of Swiss cities that Martel organized soon after taking on California wines. The excellence of the organization of these tastings was superior to what we were seeing in other markets. At the same time, I became aware of an attitude of the Swiss consumers that came to these tastings. The Bordeaux varieties that make up our Monte Bello were familiar to them, but their response to Zinfandel, which virtually none of them had ever heard, of was what was unusual. They didn’t ask how it related to Burgundy or Bordeaux or what the critics were writing about it, which were the typical questions we would get at tastings in those days. These Swiss consumers simply tasted the wines seriously and most said “I like it”. That is, they depended solely on their response to the wine, not what the critics might tell them to think. Very impressive.

Through Martel, Switzerland became our most important market on the continent. To our great pleasure Martel began to offer futures of Monte Bello in a number of years when they offered Bordeaux futures. The generosity of Wolfram during my visits, some with my wife and daughter, getting to know and respect Ludwig (der Vater von Jan Martel), then Martin Schwarz (der langjährige Martel-Einkaufsleiter) and of course Jan: all of this has built our special relationship with Martel.»